Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph get city status for Diamond Jubilee

The UK now has 69 cities after Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph were awarded civic honours to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The Queen granted civic honours on the advice of ministers (Picture: Getty)

With Armagh in Northern Ireland granted a lord mayoralty, ministers said the awards showed the importance of each part of the UK as the Queen, who conferred city status by royal decree on the advice of ministers, celebrates 60 years on the throne.

‘Across the United Kingdom, I have been moved by the pride and passion which people have shown in putting their nominations forward,’ deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said.

‘The standard of application was very high, and those who missed out should not be downhearted.

‘I hope the competition has given the residents of all of the places which applied a sense of civic pride, of collective ownership and of community spirit.’

The leader of Chelmsford council Roy Whitehead said it was a ‘tremendous honour’ to see the town become the first city in Essex.

Pete Wishart, the Scottish National party MP for North Perthshire, said Perth becoming Scotland’s seventh city was ‘fantastic news’.

St Asaph, Denbighshire, is now the UK’s smallest city with a population of just 3,500. It is one of the few towns in the UK with a cathedral never to be granted city status.

The new city’s bishop the Rt Rev Dr Gregory Cameron said he was pleased ‘these decisions are made not on the size of the population but on the quality of community life’.

City status is very rarely granted, with just 14 new cities in the UK in the 20th century.